Today’s post is a significant one. Firstly, It’s the 50th entry in this space. That means I have practiced the art of showing up 50 different times on here, attempting to communicate value with each appearance. I’m not sure to what extent I have achieved this, but it is a journey I have enjoyed so far.

Secondly, it’s the anniversary week of the blog. Yes, tomorrow makes it one year since I launched this space, and it’s been an awesome ride. I’ve grown much and learned quite a lot through the experience. I’ve also picked up a few lessons along the way, but more of all of that in a subsequent post.

Yet on the significance of this post, it is the last day of October which is also the final day of the month-long digital declutter experiment I took on (in case you don’t know what this is about, check this post).

Today’s entry is the last installment of the “Off The Grid” series. I have been on this series throughout the month, and it has served as weekly updates on my progress and experiences through the challenge. Of course, I can’t compress every bit of it into blog posts, but I have tried to capture the main highlights in the series.

For the final part of the series, I’ll be sharing what might be regarded as my “closing remarks” on the declutter experiment.

Essentialism

I have been reading the book “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown for some time now, and I finally got to the end today. It was the only one I managed to go through, out of the 5 books I had on my reading list for the month (In retrospect, what was I thinking? Lol).

This book was quite timely, and it pretty much sums up my “takeaway” from the experiment. The message of the book is summarized by its subtitle: “The disciplined pursuit of less”. It couldn’t have come at a better time as it seems to align with the general idea of the digital declutter experiment.

Note: This is not a book review. I’m only attempting to share some things I picked up for myself from the book.

Living Essentially

The declutter experiment was primarily aimed at cutting down the nonessential usage of digital devices and platforms that impede our productivity. This helps with regaining valuable time and energy, which we can reinvest in other worthwhile activities.

Essentialism, however, goes beyond just the digital space. It is an all-encompassing ideology that drives an intentional pursuit of “less but better” in everything. Keyword: intentional.

More often than not, our default approach to almost everything is in the way of the “Nonessensialist”. It’s common to think that simply doing more would yield more results, but increased efforts do not always equal increased outputs. On the contrary, the way of the Essentialist suggests that sometimes, we make our highest contributions by subtracting the nonessentials.

Pick And Choose

We are constantly bombarded with numerous opportunities, ideas, and options that vie for our attention and energy, and we are often tempted to attend to all of them. But the truth is, it is impossible to take on everything. The more we try to cramp every activity that comes our way, the more we’re spread thin. Eventually, we end up feeling overworked and underutilized, feeling busy but not productive.

Being an Essentialist involves sorting through everything that comes our way, identifying the vital few from the trivial many. This approach helps us channel our limited resources of time and energy to the things that really matter with exponential progress, as opposed to spreading them across different activities with little progress in a million directions.

Intentionally selecting the things that really matter can be challenging, given that everything looks interesting at first glance, but the benefits are hugely rewarding. Aside from making more significant progress in the things that really matter to us, living in the way of the Essentialist brings about mental clarity and enables us to steer our lives in the direction we truly desire rather than let external influences define our paths. We are generally more fulfilled when we pursue less but better.

The Closet

To borrow from Greg’s analogy, our lives are like closets. Without making any conscious efforts to organize them, they soon become cluttered with clothes all over the place — the ones we wear often and the ones we don’t. From time to time, we get frustrated with the state of the closet and try to purge it, putting everything in order.

However, without a disciplined system, we are stuck between choices as to what to do with the clothes. We can’t decide which to keep and which to give away. Eventually, we end up keeping everything.

Our lives, like the closet, are often stuffed with several commitments we’ve taken on intentionally or unintentionally. And sometimes, we can’t seem to deal with them all. The way of the Essentialist enables us to explore all our options, eliminate the ones that do not contribute to our essential purpose, and also execute on the things that really matter.

During the declutter experiment, I managed to do some introspection, and I realized that many things are interesting in themselves, but not everything is essential. Coming out of the experiment, I am looking to further explore the pursuit of “less but better” across board. I am convinced that although fewer people ply the way of the Essentialist, it is indeed the way to go.

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PS: If you’re considering checking out the book “Essentialism”, I highly recommend you do. It’s a rich book, and very practical too.